Oh man- what a story. I'm sorry you were stuck- but that is a story that
several generations will pass down.

Theresa

Chris Petersen wrote:

Do you guys remember "Little One", my son's cat? Well, Steve and I are cat
sitting again. I love this cat, but he is a house wrecker! He's already
broken two of my favorite pottery planters, released the garter snakes and
probably ate them, pushed glasses of water off my night stand, dragged cat
toys all over the house, destroyed rolls of toilet paper, .... Well, you get
the picture! Anyway, LO is an indoor cat and I recently realized that his
buddy, Spot, has learned how to open the sliding screen door to the deck by
grabbing it with his claws. I just saw him do it today, a day too late!

Yesterday, Spot must have let LO out. Luckily, my husband noticed the door
almost immediately. So there Steve and I were trying to catch the cat. LO
doesn't like to be held, but likes petting, but he wasn't going to be
caught. He hung out in the holly bushes where no one could venture without
getting all scratched up and under the huge hostas where we couldn't get to
him.
Eventually, he ended up in the 3' high crawl space which goes under the
whole house. You have to crawl through a 30" W X 24" H opening to get down
there. Not a fun experience. Steve and I spent about 45 minutes down there
when we realized that we still weren't going to be able to catch him. We
almost got him once, but Steve got scratched and left to get a piece of
plywood to cover the hole until my son came home to help get LO out. I
decided to stay inside the crawlspace and wait for LO to calm down. Then,
I'd put him in his cardboard carrier, put it outside the small opening I'd
used to get down there, and then crawl outside. Meanwhile, Steve closed the
opening with plywood, so the cat couldn't escape past me. All I had to do
was push it and it would pop out, he said. Well, you can guess the rest. I
was getting tired of waiting out the cat after about another 45 minutes, and
decided to try later. When I tried to push out the plywood it was jammed
and not going anywhere! No one was in the house and I was trapped under it
along with the cat! Luckily, there's a light down there, but I was getting
panicky! Then I heard someone at my neighbor's house and I started banging
and yelling. By this time I was yelling through a 6" vent under my deck.
This person, who turned out not to be my neighbor, went to find my husband
who finally got me OUT!
Later, I successfully got LO out also. We were both very happy to be back
in the house again!
Chris Petersen
Northport, Long Island, New York
Zone 7a (Average min temp 50 - 00)

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